45. QVAMLIBET is a correction by Heinsius: 'far away as you might be ...'. The QVOD (QVA) LICET of most manuscripts anticipates the following qua possum, contrary to Ovid's practice.
45. QVA POSSVM, MENTE. A commonplace of the poems of exile: compare ix 41-42 'mente tamen, quae sola domo non exulat, usus / praetextam fasces aspiciamque tuos', Tr III iv 56, Tr IV ii 57 'haec ego summotus qua possum mente uidebo', EP I viii 34 'cunctaque mens oculis peruidet usa suis', EP II iv 8, EP II x 47, and EP III v 47-48.
47. SVBEAT TIBI. See at xv 30 subeant animo ([p 440]).
V. To Sextus Pompeius
The poem was written shortly after Pompeius' accession to the consulship (compare 4 'tectaque brumali sub niue terra latet' and 24 'deque parum noto consulet officio'). It takes the form of a set of instructions to the poem on what it should do when it reaches Rome. Ovid tells the poem it should look for Pompeius, and includes a short description of some of the consular functions Pompeius might be carrying out (1-26). He then instructs the poem in what it is to say to Pompeius: it should describe to him Ovid's gratitude for past and present services, and promise (using several adynata as illustrations) that this gratitude will be eternal (27-46).
A close parallel to this poem is furnished by Tr III vii, in which Ovid tells the poem where it is to seek his stepdaughter Perilla and what it is to say to her. Similar personifications are found in Tr I i, in which Ovid gives instructions to his book on what it should do when it reaches Rome and the prudence it should show, in Tr III i, where the book describes its arrival in Rome, in Tr V iv, where the letter tells of Ovid's misery and his loyalty to his friend, and in Ovid's exhortation to his elegi at Fast II 3-6. The device is not unique to Ovid, being found at Catullus XXXV, Hor Ep I xx, and Statius Sil IV iv.
1. LEVES ELEGI. The same phrase at Am II i 21 'blanditias elegosque leues, mea tela, resumpsi'.
1. DOCTAS AD CONSVLIS AVRES. 'To the ears of a consul who appreciates poetry'. Compare Hor Ep I xiii 17-18 'carmina quae possint oculos aurisque morari / Caesaris' and Prop II xiii 11-12.
2. HONORATO ... VIRO. Dative of agent with legenda.